


After the Storming of the Castle

by Peppermint_Miraculous (Peppermint_Shamrock)



Series: Peppermint's Ladrien June One-Shots [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Embarrassment, F/M, Ladrien June, Misunderstandings, The Princess Bride References, ladrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 03:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14991401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/pseuds/Peppermint_Miraculous
Summary: The press and public aren't treating Adrien too well after the defeat of Papillon, suspicious that he was somehow involved with his father's crimes. Adrien fears Ladybug's reaction, but when he runs into her at a party, they accidentally give the press something else to talk about.Written for Ladrien June Day 19 - Confession





	After the Storming of the Castle

**Author's Note:**

> Post-Papillon, pre-reveal is great, especially for this dynamic.
> 
> A day late, but I've gotten busy. This'll probably be the last fic I write for Ladrien June 2018, so I hope you enjoy it!

Adrien _really_ didn’t want to be here.

Well, that wasn’t completely accurate. He would have been fine (relatively speaking) with being here were he attending the mayor’s party as Chat Noir. If he were here as Chat Noir, people would talk to him, shake his hand, thank him for his work in protecting the city, meet his eyes, at least…they wouldn’t glance at him furtively while whispering suspicions and unpleasant insinuations amongst themselves. If he were here as Chat Noir, he could almost ignore that the entire point of this fancy party of the mayor’s was to celebrate his father’s imprisonment…

But Chloé had told him in no uncertain terms that Adrien needed to be at this party. Even if the justice system had found no evidence to implicate him alongside his father (of _course_ they hadn’t, he was one half of the duo who had _brought him down,_ after all) – the court of public opinion had a different conviction, and both press and populace were merciless and unforgiving towards the son of the man who had terrorized the city for so long. At least his classmates and friends stood by him and his innocence.

“The best thing you can do for your reputation right now is to show how much you completely detest your father’s actions – which means being out there and _celebrating_ , not _moping_ and hiding in your room. Stick close to Ladybug, if you look like you have her approval, the press will have a harder time painting you as complicit,” Chloé had told him earlier as she’d shoved a new suit at him.

“I doubt Ladybug wants anything to do with the son of her nemesis,” he’d protested.

“The whole _point_ of these events is to make nice with people you don’t want anything to do with, Adrichou, you should know that,” she had said, exasperated. “Even those losers in our class are more tolerable company than _most_ of the people I have to talk to at these things. But they’re not going to help anyone’s reputation or gain political favor, now are they? You’d better be there tonight, and I’d better see you with Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

So, he was at a party, doing his best to hide in plain sight by finding some unoccupied area of wall. Not that it was too difficult; his only friend here was Chloé and she was off networking or whatever it was one did at these things.

Well, not his _only_ friend.

“And here I thought you’d be jumping at the chance to spend an evening with Ladybug. Dancing, flirting, all that ridiculous stuff you like,” Plagg said, poking his head out of Adrien’s jacket.

“You know why I can’t,” Adrien said in a low voice, trying not to draw attention to himself or Plagg. He could deal with the suspicion and distrust of the entire city – it bothered him, of course, but he had his friends and that was what mattered. But Ladybug, _Ladybug_ …if _she_ were to look at him with that same distrust, that disgust that he’d seen her look at his father with…he didn’t think he could bear that. Ladybug was the one he loved more than anything, and more importantly, his dearest friend. He couldn’t lose that, couldn’t lose her. Especially not now, when he’d already lost his family, his house, a semblance of a normal life…

He’d been terrified when she’d suggested it was safe for them to share identities, now that the threat of Papillon was dealt with. In a twisted way, it was funny…he’d always dreamed that the day would come that they wouldn’t have to have any more secrets between them. He never imagined that he’d end up clinging to his anonymity. He’d told her that he wasn’t ready, that he wanted things to settle down first. She’d accepted that, of course. He hadn’t been able to tell her that he was scared of how she would react to finding out who he was. Scared that she would think less of him. Scared that she would blame him for not noticing what was going on under his own roof. Scared that she would hate him and want nothing to do with him ever again.

Plagg had told him he was being stupid. And maybe he was, but he just couldn’t share Plagg’s confidence that Ladybug wouldn’t react like that. And to meet with her while he was untransformed would be to risk confirming his fears. He wasn’t ready to face that.

“Can we just leave, then?” Plagg said, yawning. “You only came to please Chloé, and if you’re not going to do that, then there’s nothing worth sticking around for. Except for that baked brie I saw on the refreshments table.”

That, at least, brought a small smile to Adrien’s face. At least some things were still normal in his life, even if that was Plagg’s cheese obsession.

“Alright, I’ll go get you some of the brie. But keep out of sight,” Adrien said. Plagg perked up, and dove back into the jacket. Adrien made his way over to the refreshments table, still trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. He mostly succeeded, up through slicing off some cheese for Plagg and putting it onto a small disposable plate. Then he turned around, moving away from the table, and promptly collided with someone.

For one wild moment, he’d thought – hoped – that he’d somehow run into Marinette. Colliding with her was, he supposed, a common enough occurrence to make that mistake. But more than that, it would have been nice to see a friendly face here, and Marinette _was_ one of his most ardent defenders (in fact, he was about 70% sure she had even gotten into a physical altercation with someone over it when he wasn’t around – though she vehemently denied that. She certainly had gotten into plenty of verbal sparring matches, he knew that much). However, there was no way Marinette had been invited to this party, and his apology died in his throat as he saw who he had actually run into.

He was sure his heart stopped for a moment, and in any other situation, he would have thought that romantic. As it was, all he felt was sheer terror. He wasn’t _ready_.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going, I…” she stopped abruptly, her eyes widening. “Adrien! Are you okay? I mean, of course you’re not _okay_ okay, considering everything, but I mean I didn’t hurt you just now did I?”

“I’m fine,” he somehow managed to say, trying to calm his breathing. It helped that she was acting concerned, at least. But he was reluctant to accept that small seed of hope that she might not hate him. He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, that moment when she told him to stay away from her, and…

“Oh. Good. I’m sorry, I’m sure I’m bothering you, so I’ll just go.”

“What? How could you be bothering me?” he said before he could stop himself.

“I’m sure you resent me for everything that’s happened,” she answered softly. “I understand. I ruined your life.”

Adrien could only stare at her. She...didn’t hate him? She thought he…?

“I…” he started to say. But what could he say? He couldn’t exactly tell her that he had had just as much a hand in “ruining his life” - at least not here, at a party full of people. “I...don’t…I don’t resent you. I could never.”

She stared at him.

“It’s okay if you do, you know,” she said. “I…won’t be upset. You didn’t deserve any of this. It’s okay if you resent me. It’s okay if you still…love your father.”

“Is it okay if I don’t know how I feel about him right now?” Adrien asked quietly. Because he honestly didn’t. He was upset, angry, and deeply hurt by it all – that his father would terrorize his city, hurt his friends, hurt _him_ (and not just as Chat Noir, either). He was horrified by how much his father had changed, the depths he had sunk to. But he was still Adrien’s only remaining family, and family was important. He could neither bring himself to hate nor love his father at this point in time, and he really didn’t like dwelling on it either way.

Ladybug nodded, her expression kind and sympathetic.

“Of course it’s okay,” she answered, just as quietly. “You’re the one that’s affected the most from this. And if you need anything from me, anything at all, just let me know.”

“Thank you,” Adrien said. “Most people wouldn’t give me the choice about how to feel about this. And…maybe there is something you can do for me? My friend Chloé insists I should be hanging around you during this party. Something about it helping my reputation.”

“I doubt it,” Ladybug said, her voice and expression suddenly turning sour. “I’ve told people over and over that you had no part in Papillon’s actions, but it doesn’t seem to have done a thing. But if you think it will help, I suppose it’s the least I can do.”

“I don’t, really,” Adrien admitted. “But it’ll keep Chloé off my back.”

She didn’t need to know that he had another motivation for wanting to spend time with her. Namely that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life by her side. That would’ve been a little much to drop in a conversation like this, even for him.

“Sounds like a good enough reason to me,” Ladybug said, smiling slightly. “Um…would you…do you want to dance, or…?”

“Dancing sounds good,” Adrien said, a bit too quickly. He set his plate down on the table – Plagg would have to forgive him – and took Ladybug’s hand. They moved away from the table, out towards the open floor. Adrien shyly positioned himself around her, not wanting to be too forward, but also hardly believing this was really happening.

He had to give Chloé some credit – people were definitely taking particular notice of the pair of them. He wasn’t sure it was really going to help, though. But he couldn’t complain. Ladybug didn’t hate him, she wanted to help him, and she was dancing with him. Ladybug was _dancing_ with him!

Eventually, they tired of dancing, and made their way back to the refreshments. It had just been dancing, but Adrien felt light, even happy. Or at least happier than he had been since before the confrontation with Papillon. The only thing in the world that seemed to matter right then was that Ladybug had Adrien’s back as much as she had Chat Noir’s.

“Do you want to ditch the party?” he asked, surprising himself with his bold request. “I’m staying here in the hotel while things are resolved, so we could just go up there and watch a movie or something?”

“Yes! I mean…uh…I’d love to go and watch a movie with you, Adrien.”

He smiled, pleased by her enthusiasm. They each took some food from the refreshments table with them, Adrien making sure to get plenty of the baked brie for Plagg, and they set off for the elevators to head up to Adrien’s room.

“What do you want to watch?” he asked. “I wasn’t able to bring that much stuff with me, so I don’t have a whole lot…”

“It’s probably still more than _my_ DVD collection,” Ladybug said, teasingly. “We can watch whatever you want, but preferably something happy.”

“Yeah, I agree. Happy sounds good right now.”

They reached Adrien’s room, and he unlocked the door, holding it open for her.

“Such a gentleman,” she teased him, but walked through ahead of him anyway. Once inside, Adrien shut the door behind him, set Plagg’s cheese down on a table, and went over to pull out his DVDs. After a few moments of deliberation, the pair of them decided to watch The Princess Bride.

Ladybug started giggling unexpectedly shortly after the beginning of the film.

“What?” Adrien asked. She waved him off.

“It’s nothing…just, a friend of mine and I once…ah… _nicknamed_ you Buttercup. Long story,” she said, and giggled again. Adrien was confused, but Ladybug giggling was adorable so he wasn’t going to press why she and her friend would be nicknaming him in the first place.

“So are you my Dread Pirate Ladybug, then?” he asked, grinning.

“If you want,” she said, blushing. He nudged her playfully.

“You’re supposed to say ‘as you wish.’”

They both laughed.

It was nice, Adrien thought, to be able to hang out with Ladybug like this. After his fears had been laid to rest, being with her became just as easy and natural as it always was.

He could tell her now, he realized. He had no reason to fear her reaction anymore, and they were alone. He could tell her everything. But, should he? It was nice just like this, without anything having to change just yet – they could just sit and enjoy the movie.

“You know, I was really scared that you would hate me,” he admitted quietly. “Because of my father. Because I never noticed.”

Ladybug turned her attention away from the screen, towards him, and gently took his hand.

“I could never hate you, Adrien. It wasn’t your fault, you couldn’t have known,” she said.

“I know that. But I still…”

“I get it. I too…I thought you would resent me. I feel guilty for everything you’ve had to go through, even though I know it was the right thing to bring Papillon down.”

“You shouldn’t feel guilty,” Adrien said. The movie played on in the background, but neither of them were watching any longer. He swallowed, decision made, and leaned towards her, eyes focused on hers. “Because…because I…”

His phone buzzed loudly. And kept buzzing. Adrien drew back, the moment ruined.

“Sorry,” he said. “I should probably see what they want…”

He pulled out his phone, where he found messages from several different people waiting for him, and more still coming in. He decided to look at the ones from Chloé first, figuring she would be the most likely to object to a delayed response.

She had sent him a link to something, and followed it up with the message: **not what i meant when i said stick close to ladybug but ok**

Warily, Adrien clicked on the link. It loaded up some paparazzi blogger’s website – which was currently plastered with pictures of him and Ladybug. Pictures of them talking, pictures of them dancing, pictures of him entering the elevator with her, even pictures of him holding open the door to his hotel room for her. With dawning horror, Adrien realized exactly what those pictures looked like.

Ladybug must have seen the look on his face, because she asked him what was wrong. He showed her his phone, and her face paled.

“Oh my god,” she said, and buried her face (which was turning bright red) in her hands. “They think…oh my god…”

“I promise you that I wasn’t intending…I would never…I don’t have untoward intentions toward you,” Adrien said, equally embarrassed.

“I know you don’t,” she squeaked out. “But everyone’s going to think…”

“I’m sorry.”

“’s not your fault,” Ladybug said, sounding as though she was trying to smother herself with her own hands.

Another message came in from Chloé: **dont worry i made sure the riffraff got kicked out they wont be taking any more pics**

Adrien was not all that reassured. Well, at least he could know that no one was listening outside his door, but the damage had already been done. Bracing himself for the worst, he started pulling up his other messages.

Nino had sent him a warning: **Dude just to let you know there’s a whole bunch of leading pictures out** **on the internet** **rn** **of you and** **l** **adybug. Alya’s talking my ear off about them. I** **convinced** **her not to repost them on the** **l** **adyblog** **but it’s going to spread no matter what.**

Alya had sent several links, including the one Chloé had sent, with the message: **I have many questions and I expect details tomorrow. ALL of the details ;)**

Rose had sent: **u n lb r so cute!! im happy 4 u** followed by heart emojis.

Kim had spammed him with Lenny faces.

Several others had sent questions asking if the pictures were real.

Adrien sighed and sent a quick response to Nino: **Thanks for letting me know. Please tell Alya it’s not at all what she thinks. The party was boring so we ditched to watch a movie instead. That’s it.** He turned off his phone, ignoring the other messages for the time being, and looked over to Ladybug, who was mumbling a rapid stream of panicked and incomprehensible words into her hands. He tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“This is so embarrassing…” she groaned. “Everyone’s going to think that we…you know…and I’m not going to be able to deny it without blushing and they’re going to take that as confirmation and I don’t know what to do but at least they have something else to talk about now and won’t keeping hounding you about Papillon…”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve known what it would look like to leave the party early and go back to my room with you.”

“I didn’t think of it either,” she said, looking up from her hands.

“Do you want to leave?” Adrien asked, hoping she didn’t.

“No,” she admitted. “It wouldn’t change anything anyway. And you promised me a movie, so we’re going to finish this movie, at least.”

“Okay.”

They settled back in to watch the movie, in awkward silence at first, but gradually they started laughing and joking about it again. When they reached the end, they were in much higher spirits than before, and the paparazzi nonsense didn’t seem as big of a deal to Adrien anymore. But he hadn’t forgotten his almost confession from before.

“Ladybug,” he said, as she stood in the frame of the window she had just opened to make her exit.

Ladybug turned to look at him, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“Tomorrow,” he said, taking a breath. “Tomorrow I’ll tell you everything that I was too afraid to tell you before. I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t feel guilty for my situation. So please…come see me tomorrow.”

“I will,” Ladybug said, nodding. “Goodnight, Adrien. I hope the press doesn’t give you too much trouble for this.”

“I’m more worried about my classmates, really,” Adrien said. “Goodnight, Ladybug.”

She smiled at him, and with a flick of her yo-yo, sailed off into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> If you don't remember when Adrien was called Buttercup, it was the code name Alya and Marinette used for him in their Operation: Secret Garden during Gigantitan.
> 
> Also, baked brie is delicious.


End file.
